Joint Statement of the United States and the Russian Federation, as Co-Chairs of the ISSG, on Cessation of Hostilities in Syria

The United States of America and the Russian Federation, as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and seeking to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis with full respect for the fundamental role of the United Nations, are fully determined to provide their strongest support to end the Syrian conflict and establish conditions for a successful Syrian-led political transition process, facilitated by the UN, in order to fully implement the Munich Statement of the ISSG on February 11th, 2016, UN Security Council Resolution 2254, the 2015 Vienna Statements and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué.

In this regard, and in furtherance of the February 11th decisions of the ISSG, the United States and Russia, as co-chairs of the ISSG and ISSG Ceasefire Task Force, announce the adoption on February 22, 2016, of the Terms for a Cessation of Hostilities in Syria attached as an Annex to this statement, and propose that the cessation of hostilities commence at 00:00 (Damascus time) on February 27, 2016. The cessation of hostilities is to be applied to those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of its terms. Consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and the statements of the ISSG, the cessation of hostilities does not apply to “Daesh”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”, or other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council.

Any party engaged in military or para-military hostilities in Syria, other than “Daesh”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”, or other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council will indicate to the Russian Federation or the United States, as co-chairs of the ISSG, their commitment to and acceptance of the terms for the cessation of hostilities by no later than 12:00 (Damascus time) on February 26, 2016. In order to implement the cessation of hostilities in a manner that promotes stability and protects those parties participating in it, the Russian Federation and the United States are prepared to work together to exchange pertinent information (e.g., aggregated data that delineates territory where groups that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of the cessation of hostilities are active, and a focal point for each side, in order to ensure effective communication) and develop procedures necessary for preventing parties participating in the cessation of hostilities from being attacked by Russian Armed Forces, the U.S.-led Counter ISIL Coalition, the Armed Forces of the Syrian government and other forces supporting them, and other parties to the cessation of hostilities. Military actions, including airstrikes, of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Russian Armed Forces, and the U.S.-led Counter ISIL Coalition will continue against ISIL, “Jabhat al-Nusra,” and other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council. The Russian Federation and United States will also work together, and with other members of the Ceasefire Task Force, as appropriate and pursuant to the ISSG decision of February 11, 2016, to delineate the territory held by “Daesh,” “Jabhat al-Nusra” and other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council, which are excluded from the cessation of hostilities.

In order to promote the effective implementation of the cessation of hostilities, the ISSG Ceasefire Task Force, co-chaired by the United States and Russia, has been established under UN auspices, including political and military officials from the co-chairs and other Task Force members; the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE) serves as secretariat. The primary functions of the Task Force are, as provided in the ISSG Statement of February 11, to: a) delineate the territory held by “Daesh”, “Jabhat-al-Nusra” and other terrorist organizations designated by the United Nations Security Council; b) ensure communications among all parties to promote compliance and rapidly de-escalate tensions; c) resolve allegations of non-compliance; and d) refer persistent non-compliant behavior by any of the parties to the ISSG Ministers or those designated by the Ministers to determine appropriate action, including the exclusion of such parties from the arrangements of the cessation of hostilities, and the protection it affords them.

The United States and Russia are prepared, in their capacities as co-chairs of the Ceasefire Task Force and in coordination with other members of the ISSG Ceasefire Task Force as appropriate, to develop effective mechanisms to promote and monitor compliance with the ceasefire both by the governmental forces of the Syrian Arab Republic and other forces supporting them, and the armed opposition groups. To achieve this goal and to promote an effective and sustainable cessation of hostilities, the Russian Federation and the United States will establish a communication hotline and, if necessary and appropriate, a working group to exchange relevant information after the cessation of hostilities has gone into effect. In addressing incidents of non-compliance, every effort should be made to promote communications among all parties to restore compliance and rapidly de-escalate tensions, and non-forcible means should be exhausted whenever possible before resorting to use of force. The United States and Russia as co-chairs of ISSG Ceasefire Task Force will develop such further modalities and standard operating procedures as may be necessary to implement these functions.

The United States and the Russian Federation together call upon all Syrian parties, regional states and others in the international community to support the immediate cessation of violence and bloodshed in Syria and to contribute to the swift, effective and successful promotion of the UN-facilitated political transition process in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, the February 11 Statement of the ISSG, the 2015 Vienna statements of the ISSG, and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué.

ANNEX

TERMS FOR CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES IN SYRIA

The nationwide cessation of hostilities is to apply to any party currently engaged in military or paramilitary hostilities against any other parties other than “Daesh”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”, or other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council.

The responsibilities of the Syrian armed opposition are set out in paragraph 1 below. The responsibilities of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, and all forces supporting or associated with the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic are set out in paragraph 2 below.

1. To take part in the cessation of hostilities, armed opposition groups will confirm – to the United States of America or the Russian Federation, who will attest such confirmations to one another as co-chairs of the ISSG by no later than 12:00 (Damascus time) on February 26 2016 – their commitment to and acceptance of the following terms:

To full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted unanimously on December 18, 2015, ‑ including the readiness to participate in the UN-facilitated political negotiation process;

To cease attacks with any weapons, including rockets, mortars, and anti-tank guided missiles, against Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, and any associated forces;

To refrain from acquiring or seeking to acquire territory from other parties to the ceasefire;

To allow humanitarian agencies, rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained access throughout areas under their operational control and allow immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need;

To proportionate use of force (i.e., no greater than required to address an immediate threat) if and when responding in self-defense.

2. The above-mentioned commitments will be observed by such armed opposition groups, provided that the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, and all forces supporting or associated with the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic have confirmed to the Russian Federation as co-chair of the ISSG by no later than 12:00 (Damascus time) on February 26, 2016 their commitment to and acceptance of the following terms:

To full implementation of UN Security Resolution 2254, adopted unanimously on December 18, 2015, including the readiness to participate in the UN-facilitated political negotiation process;

To cease attacks with any weapons, including aerial bombardments by the Air Force of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation, against the armed opposition groups (as confirmed to the United States or the Russian Federation by parties to the cessation of hostilities);

To refrain from acquiring or seeking to acquire territory from other parties to the ceasefire;

To allow humanitarian agencies, rapid, unhindered and sustained access throughout areas under their operational control and allow immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need;

To proportionate use of force (i.e., no greater than required to address an immediate threat) if and when responding in self-defense.

The Russian Federation and the United States, as co-chairs of the ISSG and ISSG Ceasefire Task Force, are prepared to work together to ensure effective communications and develop procedures necessary for preventing parties participating in the cessation of hostilities from being attacked by Russian Armed Forces, the U.S.-led Counter ISIL Coalition, the Armed Forces of the Syrian government and other forces supporting them, and other parties to the cessation of hostilities.

All parties further commit to work for the early release of detainees, particularly women and children.

Any party can bring a violation or potential violation of the cessation of hostilities to the attention of the Task Force, either through the OSE or the co-chairs. The OSE and Co-Chairs will establish liaison arrangements with each other and the parties, and inform the public generally about how any party may bring a violation to the attention of the Task Force.

The United States and the Russian Federation as co-chairs confirm that the cessation of hostilities will be monitored in an impartial and transparent manner and with broad media coverage.

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44 Comments

Going by the wording, it seems that nothing has changed for the Syrian government/Russian side.
Comes across more as a face saving measure for the US to pull out of its current high profile regime change activities in Syria.

I expect that there will be especially intense fighting around Azaz and Aleppo over the next 4 days. Since ISIS/Al Nusra are left out of the ceasefire agreement, the Syrian Army and the Russian Air Force will be able to shift their forces to the east and could retake Raqqa.

I am not sure.
But I am lost, have no clue…
Putin is too much a man of honour and really likes peace. But until when does he need to avoid war? USA will never be friends to Russia, never, until mighty and rich. USA need only weak and obiding friends.

The US always asks for ceasefires when they are losing – look at the cauldron right now. J. Al Nusra must be seething after asking the UN to stop Russia bombing them……they are still named there in balck and white – so good luck with that.

First, let me preface my comment by stating that in spite of most seeing the agreement as some sort of positive, I believe it will not change a thing. That it is a fake ceasefire.
Please explain how the Russians won. Part 2 of the annex specifically mentions the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation will stop bombing. Is the U.S. or NATO mentioned similarly in Part 1? The agreement and annex do not allow Syria to take back territory illegally annexed, just say stolen from them. Especially territory stolen by the poor, poor kurds. Is this a win for Russia? I certainly do not see it as such.
This agreement has as much a chance of succeeding as a snow ball has not melting in hell.

How is the US-Russia-agreed “truce” (!) to commence on Saturday, 27 February 2016 going to actually benefit Russia? One clearly sees how it will benefit the US. But Russia?… One can understand local Putin-admirers’ emotions (everything he does must be right … he is so smart … what else would you do in his place … etc.), unfortunately those do not answer this simple question.

Perhaps, there are some “unpublished” quid pro quo-s Putin “cannot do without”?…

I see your point. Perhaps the overall game may indeed move in a good way. Or it may not:

The rebel groups stop fighting Assad. Russia & its allies then cannot touch them any longer because of the “truce”. So, all these diverse rebel groups keep the large territory they occupy, they don’t have to contend for it with ISIS any longer (Russia does the job for them) and get all consolidated and unified there with the US help. All that territory is then lost to Assad, Syria is fragmented permanently, Assad gets weaker and is kicked out, Russia looses.

If Turkey continues shelling Syrian Kurds they violate the ceasfire . Russia wins
If Saudis march into Syria they violate the ceasefire. Russia wins

This whole ceasefire deal was meant to put SA and Turkey in bad light and cause for an ass whipping if they continue on their plan of invading Syria.

By excluding ISIS/ Al nusra this forces everyone to focus on ISIS and anyone who has ulterior motives such as overthrow of assad, shelling of Kurds must put that on pause otherwise again theyre in violation of the ceasefire. Basically Putin is hitting the Pause button for WW3
Genius again from Putin.

From the photos and videos I have seen, the Syrians are ecstatic about the Russians and Putin’s strategy of military and diplomacy.

Coming quickly are elections, reconciliation, amnesty, and re-building. The Chinese will pour in money and infrastructure reconstruction.

Economies flourish when old infrastructures are replaced with new, state of the art construction.

Syria will be in war only as long as the terrorist exist. Russia will extinguish them in short order. They have lost their big financial backing and will be soon discovering Russia does not take prisoners.

RT uk has done very good coverage and continuing discussion tonight c 3hrs so far –eg Ray Mcgovern, Murad Gadziev correspondent, ex major general of USA army Paul e Vallely who I think said he has advised on lists of groups………William Jones from Executive Intelligence review(Us still wants regime change like Turkey does)

most pessimistic from Gregory Copley who runs a defence review journal, Turkey will initially go along with it, but is too deeply entrenched with its proxies not to subvert it, probably going fully into action c June,especially to use any continued fighting by “Syrian” Kurds -or any Kurds they will label as “Syrian” either within Turkey or in Syria, as excuses to continue its already committed invasion plans as proven by recent actions and statements(although apparently are supporting this statement)………but no doubt SAA and Rus will be making plans or have made plans to deal with these scenarios/possibilities.

maybe this
“A spate of atrocities over the past week suggests that the Erdogan regime in Turkey is desperately trying to goad Washington into a wider Syrian war. Who’s giving the orders here?

The evidence points to Washington losing control over its regional underlings. That in turn makes the situation all the more volatile and dangerous.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow coordinated joint Russia-US decisions on the Syrian reconciliation with Doha and Riyadh during the leaders’ bilateral talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
“These decisions were talked out, worked out and coordinated during the mentioned bilateral talks,” Peskov told reporters, answering whether the solution to the Syrian crisis was discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meetings with the leaders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“The Kremlin to use Open Skies Treaty to fly aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the US.

The Kremlin will formally request permission from the Open Skies Consultative Commission, based in Vienna, to fly an aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the US mainland according to senior congressional sources. Washington challenges that the request, in keeping with the strict text of the Open Skies Treaty, violates the spirit of the treaty and should be disallowed.

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Moscow calls on the United States and other NATO countries to show responsibility in choosing targets for their air strikes to avoid casualties among civilians, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment posted on the ministry’s website on Saturday.
“We call on the United States and other NATO countries to be responsible and discriminate in choosing targets, like the Russian aerospace forces are doing in Syria. There have been numerous reports about innocent civilians killed in NATO air strikes. The United States and its allies obviously must be guided by international law in conducting such operation. They should not act unilaterally but instead they must coordinate their steps with all members of the international community concerned,” the document says.

The AngloZionist game plan remains unchanged and YES, I will be saying told you so in the not too distant future.

Russia has not been fooled. They and their Syrian allies also need a rest after many months of intensive activity. Now is a good time to consolidate gains, rearm and prepare for the coming epic showdown.

The plan is an old one, as advertised by Yeats 100 years ago. It will not be abandoned because war is the health of the Empire. They have nothing to offer besides.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Dear Saker,
You may be interested to hear that NORAD has noticed Russia’s new cruse power:
“Russian missile attacks in Syria have Arctic implications, NORAD commander”
by Murray Brewster
(It sounds like our DEW line system was built before the advent of cruse missiles.)

This article clearly stated, “The cessation of hostilities is to be applied to those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of its terms.” Is Turkey (Erdogan) or Saudi Arabia (House of Saud) a signatory to this agreement? I have not found any such reference and therefore I can’t see where it is binding on Turkey or Saudi Arabia.

In my opinion Turkey will go on shelling the Kurds and the SAA within Syrian borders as a prelude to an invasion of Syria in March.

I am so glad for this news item!! Peace!!! Peace at last!! I have followed the Saker’s reporting day and night. He provided me with the facts and thus created hope against hope. Great News!! Peace is at hand. Blessings on the people of Syria, their government and their allies!! Thanks Saker peace and blessings to you and your loved ones… In Christ!

Still every kind of conditional clauses & hypotheticals in this ‘ceasefire’.
Not even withstanding the fact this was rumored 2 weeks ago to be a done deal in time for last weekend, so it’s a week late already.

Turkey welcomes a ceasefire plan for Syria worked out by the United States and Russia and hopes that Moscow will now cease air strikes that have killed civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said on Monday.

“We view it as possible that a ceasefire will be reached. We hope it will not be like previous ceasefires and will have the capacity to be implemented,” he told reporters at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

“We hope that Russia, in its fight against Islamic State, will not fly its jets and kill innocent people” while the combatants negotiate over an end to the five-year conflict, Kurtulmus also said in comments broadcast live by CNN Turk.

Another obvious reason for the timing of this ‘ceasefire’ is so the usual suspects can build up their Libya plans & timetable unhindered by fires elsewhere (literally).
Notice all the Libya news & deep concern lately, none of it good.

Italy has agreed to allow American armed drones to use an airbase in its southern island of Sicily for military operations against alleged positions of Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Libya and across North Africa.

Rome and Washington reached the agreement last month after over a year of negotiations, an Italian Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday.

Mr Putin is a very clever man and obviously well advised. Moscow had to first get peace settlement with all external forces in Syria, which he appears to have achieved. I now believe that Mr Putin intends to destroy IS, El Queda and Al Nusra. When the dust settles i doubt there will be a single terrorist in Syria.

All going well that is, but expect a double cross from the West. They will attempt to triple down on their failed strategy.

Mr Putin is a very clever man and obviously well advised. Moscow had to first get peace settlement with all external forces in Syria, which he appears to have achieved. I now believe that Mr Putin intends to destroy IS, El Queda and Al Nusra. When the dust settles i doubt there will be a single terrorist in Syria.

All going well that is, but expect a triple cross from the West. They will attempt to triple down on their failed strategy.

I think the “key” parts of this for the “good guys” is that ISIS and al Nusra (al qaeda) and “other terrorists” aren’t protected by it. And also that those wanting to be included by it “must” contact Russia or the US about wanting to be included,and that the two parties (Russia or the US) must inform each other about that. I see why it might not work because of that last part (but I think Russia knows that). I can see the US saying “oh so and so contacted us,so don’t bomb them”. And then “but so and so aren’t part of the terrorists,so don’t bomb them”,etc,etc. Which is why for it to work,a firm,accurate,list of terrorist groups (agreed on by Russia) must be created. Without that there will be total chaos,and countless “misunderstanding” and arguments come from this “ceasefire”.But in reality,I doubt Russia expects it to work. And it is just a propaganda tool. It shows Russia and Syria are trying to find a way for peace. And it halts some of the terrorist state’s (Turkey,SA,Gulf States,and NATO) abilities to sponsor terror without Russia pointing to that as violations of the ceasefire.

I am sure President Putin is going into this agreement with eyes wide open. Irregardless of how it works out on the ground – and we know the SAA and allies are now tenuously in charge on that ground – the rest of the world has now seen the U.S. empire humiliated in its most recent murderous attempt at regime change.

The key point here is that the USA and Russia have reached a face-2-face agreement. There are no proxies. There is no NATO. Quite a shift, imo. Even if it does not last long (and I doubt it will) it does symbolize progress by the removal of the various facades etc. Most likely we can now expect a new outbreak of hostilities in the Ukraine at the end of winter.

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